Original article, has opened the whole network rights protection, plagiarism must be investigated!
(Note: This article refers to age, and according to old customs, virtual years are used.) ）
"Li De li said that meritorious service is three immortals, and the teacher will be a perfect person."
”
This is the evaluation of Zeng Guofan by posterity.
"The world cannot be without Hunan for a day, and Hunan cannot be without Zuo Zongtang for a day."
This is the evaluation of Zuo Zongtang by posterity.
Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang were two important figures in the political arena of the late Qing Dynasty, one of them quelled the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement and the other recovered millions of fertile lands in Xinjiang, both of them were famous ministers of ZTE and national heroes. However, the two people who were active in the same historical period staged a drama of "love and killing each other".
Zeng Guofan was born in 1811 AD, Zuo Zongtang was born in 1812 AD, the two are only one year apart, however, Zeng Guofan is 28 years old in high school, and Zuo Zongtang has repeatedly tried, so Zeng Guofan debuted much earlier than Zuo Zongtang, and the reason why Zuo Zongtang embarked on the road of high promotion was recommended by Zeng Guofan, and Zeng Guofan also had the grace of knowing Zuo Zongtang.
In modern times, Hunan talents have emerged, Zeng Guofan is a native of Xiangxiang County, Changsha Province, Hunan Province, and Zuo Zongtang is a native of Xiangyin County, Changsha Province, Hunan Province. The origin of Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang began with the most exquisite hometown friendship of the ancients.
In the tenth year of Qing Xianfeng (1860 AD), the Taiping Army attacked the Jiangnan camp, just when the situation was becoming increasingly severe, Zeng Guofan resolutely used Zuo Zongtang to help quell the war, at this time Zeng Guofan was the minister of Qincha and the governor of Liangjiang, while Zuo Zongtang was only a candidate of sipin Jingtang, Zeng Guofan reused Zuo Zongtang on the one hand, he was wise and discerning, and he saw his military talents, on the other hand, he also wanted to pull his hunan compatriots.
Zuo Zongtang did not live up to the expectations of the people, he seized this opportunity well, leading 5,000 Chu troops to Jiangxi and Anhui to fight against the Taiping Army, quite a battle achievement. The following year, in the eleventh year of Xianfeng (1861 AD), Zuo Zongtang became the governor of Zhejiang under the recommendation of Zeng Guofan. Since then, Zuo Zongtang has risen rapidly and begun his path of development. And all this is inseparable from zeng guofan's reuse and recommendation.
However, the "honeymoon period" between Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang was really shorter, and soon, they were heading into the abyss of evil. In fact, Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang did not have any blood and sea feuds, not even real grudges, and their mutual dislikes were nothing more than "personality incompatibility".
Zeng Guofan was low-key and humble, treated people peacefully, and had a great Confucian demeanor, while Zuo Zongtang was arrogant and arrogant, flying and flapping, and could be called a model of eccentric talent. In Zeng Guofan's heart, Zuo Zongtang is a self-righteous "thorn head", and in Zuo Zongtang's eyes, Zeng Guofan is just a "fool" with mediocre talents. This can be seen in a mocking couplet they gave each other.
Zeng Guofan commented on Zuo Zongtang and said:
"Ji Zi zi zi high, and my heart expects what is too left?"
Zuo Zongtang commented on Zeng Guofan, saying:
"The vassals are in the country, and ask the monarch what has been the economy?"
It can be seen that Zeng Guofan criticized Zuo Zongtang's character, while Zuo Zongtang questioned Zeng Guofan's talent. (Note: Zuo Zongtang, the character Ji Gao.) This is a pair of "embedded names". ）
Regarding Zeng Guofan, there is a story that everyone must be familiar with. Zeng Guofan studied hard since childhood, often picking up the lamp to read until dawn, but unfortunately he had more than enough work and lack of intelligence, and often could not remember an article all night. One night, when Zeng Guofan, who was young at that time, was studying hard late at night, a thief came to the house. The thief saw that a room was still lit, and he planned to wait for Zeng Guofan to finish memorizing this article and go to sleep, but he did not expect that the sky was bright, Zeng Guofan had not yet memorized the short article, so angry that the thief jumped off the beam of the room, recited the article loudly and fluently, and then angrily scolded: "As long as you are so stupid to read any book, I will recite it several times!" After saying that, he flew away angrily.
After Zeng Guofan became famous, he often exposed this ugly thing to himself as a self-deprecating fool. However, judging from his later Keju High School and career, although Zeng Guofan was not talented enough, he was diligent and able to make up for his clumsiness, and his success did not stem from the favor of heaven.
Different from Zeng Guofan's "stupidity", Zuo Zongtang boasted that he was "the most intelligent person in the world", and also gave himself a graceful name of "Jinliang", which means "Zhuge Liang of Jin", which is really narcissistic to the extreme. It is said that Zeng Guofan was the seventieth grandson of Zong Sheng's great-grandson, after a well-known celebrity, but Zuo Zongtang did not think so, but gave Zeng Guofan a very indecent nickname - "pig", which means roughly equivalent to the "pig head" and "stupid pig" often said now.
Zuo Zongtang's cleverness is not completely blown out, regardless of his highly sought after by later generations, it is said that when he was 65 years old, he carried his coffin to Xinjiang and recovered 1.7 million square kilometers of lost land, which is worthy of a gifted military genius, let alone worthy of the title of "national hero", so Mr. Liang Qichao evaluated him as
"The first great man in five hundred years"
。
There is no doubt that on iq and talent, Zuo Zongtang is enough to shake off Zeng Guofan eight streets, but the historical truth is that whether from the perspective of career or fame, Zeng Guofan is far above Zuo Zongtang.
To uncover the mystery of this problem, we still have to start with the personalities of Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang. Zeng Guofan has a stoic personality, while Zuo Zongtang has a straightforward personality, so unlike Zeng Guofan, who rarely criticizes Zuo Zongtang in front of people, Zuo Zongtang often provokes and ridicules and even humiliates Zeng Guofan.
Zuo Zongtang gave his benefactor Zeng Guofan an indecent nickname of "pig", but he did not have the slightest intention of restraining, because he was not satisfied with Zeng Guofan, so he liked to express his dissatisfaction in public when there was nothing to do. Even when Zeng Guofan died, he completely disregarded the "death is great", and counted him down when Zeng Guofan's bones were not cold.
The Nanting Notes record such an event. In 1872, Zeng Guofan died of illness and was given the title of "Wenzheng" for his merits. "Wenzheng" is the top title of the ancient civil official, and getting this title means that the name has been famous for thousands of years, and throughout the history of China, the total number of people who received this honor after his death was only more than 20 people such as Fan Zhongyan and Sima Guang, less than one-thirtieth of the number of titles. However, such an honor that all the people of the world dreamed of was easily obtained by the "stupid" Zeng Guofan, and Zuo Zongtang was a thousand disobedient and ten thousand unhappy about this. Zuo Zongtang actually sneered in public: "He Zeng Guofan can get the title of 'Wenzheng', is it true that after my death, the title is 'Martial Evil'?" ”
People who like Zuo Zongtang's personality may call it "true", and zeng guofan's humility and forbearance are called "pretending", but Zuo Zongtang's "truth" is sometimes indeed regardless of the occasion and regardless of the timing, which makes his official popularity very poor, manchu Wenwu in addition to hating him is afraid of him, so his career path is naturally not as smooth as Zeng Guofan, and his name in later generations is even worse.
On the other hand, Zeng Guofan, the "stupid material" who was once laughed at by thieves, left behind the reputation of "a perfect person throughout the ages", and the reason for this is precisely because he understands Zhang Chi and knows how to advance and retreat. Objectively speaking, Zeng Guofan's military ability is far inferior to Zuo Zongtang's, but he has relied on the spirit of "repeated defeats and battles, more and more setbacks and courage" to pacify the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement and establish an immortal meritorious service, which is not legendary. And it is not "IQ" that determines all this, but "character".
Just as the so-called "character determines destiny", having iq is not as good as having wisdom, Zeng Guofan's "wisdom" defeated Zuo Zongtang's "IQ", which is not a coincidence of destiny, but a historical necessity.
Resources:
Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Notes on the South Pavilion